Outdoor gas grills have been in use since the 1970's. A conventional gas grill will typically comprise: a lower housing structure which houses an open topped firebox; at least one burner which is positioned in a lower portion of the firebox; a cooking grate or other food support structure positioned within or near the top opening of the firebox such that the food support grate is above the burner element(s); and a lid which is rotatably connected to the lower housing structure such that the lid can be pivoted between an open position and a closed position for opening and closing the grill.
The grill housing will typically be mounted on top of a frame or cart having wheels, rollers, or casters for moving the grill assembly from one location to another. Many grill carts comprise enclosed frame structures having doors on the front thereof such that the cart forms a cabinet for holding the gas fuel canister and for storing other items.
Some attempts have been made heretofore to market gas grill assemblies which have also included a baking oven. In these prior art assemblies, the baking oven has been located substantially at the bottom of the grill cart below the lower grill housing structure. The prior art combination gas grill and baking oven assembly has thus resembled a conventional indoor home oven wherein a stovetop is provided on top of the oven chamber.
Unfortunately, due in part to the significant differences between outdoor grilling versus indoor cooking, the combination gas grill and oven assemblies heretofore known in the art have had significant shortcomings and deficiencies. One deficiency of the prior art grill and oven assembly has been that the user must bend, stoop, or squat, essentially to ground level, in order to place food items in and remove food items from the oven chamber. In addition, the positioning of the oven chamber below the grill firebox housing can interfere to some degree with the user's access to the bottom of the firebox housing, and may require some additional structural modification to the firebox housing so that, for example, fat drippings from the food products can be adequately captured and removed. Further, the very limited space between the bottom of the oven and the ground or a bottom panel of the cart affects the type and height of the burner which can be used, not only in terms of space available, but also in terms of providing sufficient combustion air flow.
Moreover, and perhaps most significantly, a further significant shortcoming of the prior art combination gas grill and oven assembly has to do with the location of the grill burner(s) and oven burner(s) at significantly different elevations. The gas burner(s) for the oven must be mounted beneath the oven chamber and are therefore located only a few inches above ground level. The gas burner(s) for the grill firebox, on the other hand, are located at a much higher elevation at, or more typically above, the top of the grill cart. Consequently, in order to provide gas flow to both the elevated grill burner(s) and to the lower oven burner(s), the gas supply system which delivers the gas fuel from the gas canister and the pressure regulator to both sets of burners is required to be much longer, more complex, and more expensive than the typical gas delivery system used for conventional gas grills which do not include baking ovens.
In addition, all of the combined deficiencies and shortcomings of the prior art combination gas grill and oven assembly discussed above also make the prior art assembly more difficult to inspect, less reliable, and less safe.